Otto spaethe



(No Model.)

0. SPAETHE.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

No. 252,977. Patented Jan. 31,1882.

INVENTOR lllilllmm ITNESSES:

AIICIINBY PETERS. Pmla-ulnognphor. wasmngmn, D. C.

U NITED STATES PATENT OEEICE..

OTTO SPAETHE, OF GERA, GERMANY.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,977, dated January31, 1882.

Application lcd June 2l, 1881.

To all Iwhom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, Or'ro SrAET1rE,ot'Gera, in the Empire ot' Germany,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechani cal MusicalInstruments or Melophones, of which the following is a specitcation.

This invention relates to a mechanical musical instrument ot' that classin which the operation of the sound-producing devices is controlled by aperforated. sheet ot' paper, and more especially to an improvedinstrument of that class to which I have given the name of melophone,77in which the sounds are accompanied by the ringing of bells, whoseactuating mechanism is also set in motion by said perforated sheet.

The invention consists of the connection with a musical instrument, thereeds of which are operated 'by means of compressed air and a perforatedsheet of paper drawn through the instrument, of a series of bells andspring-acted hammers or tongues, the latter being provided withprojecting noses, which are engaged by the pert'orations of the paperand dropped into narrow slots intermediately between the regularwind-openings or" the reeds.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a side elevation,partly in longitudinal section, of my improved melophone. Fig. 2 is aplan View of the same, with parts removed. Fig. 3 is a verticaltransverse section ot the instrument on line w x, Fig. l. Fig. 4 is adetail sectional side view ot' a bell and its actuating mechanismen anenlarged scale.

Similar let-ters of reference i-ndicate corresponding parts.

By reference Yto the drawings it will appear that the instrument iscomposed of two main partsa top part, A, and a bottom part, B. The toppart, A,is connected byhooks orotherwise with the bottom part, B. Vithinthe top part-, A, is arranged a spring-cushioned rail,O, the lower partof which is recessed or slitted intermediately between the regularwind-recesses, so as to provide space for a series of spring actedhammers or tongues,D, which are fulcrumed to a pivot-rod, a, at the rearend ot' the rail C, and extended through slots b ofthe end wall of thetop part, A, to the outside, so as to strike, when actuated, acorresponding series of bells, F, of diiierent sizes, which are se- (Nomodel.)

cured to tixed posts at the end wall ofthe top part, A. By the action otsprings applied to the lower ends of the hammers or tongues D thedownwardly-projecting noses with which the hammers are provided arecaused to pioject into slots p ofthe top ot' the wind chestm, arrangedin the bottom part, B. In the top part,A,is also arranged, in front ofthe rail D, aspring-pressed rubber-covered roller, c,which, inconnection with a similar covered roll, k, of the bottom part, takeshold of the pert'orated sheetofpapergandpullsthesamethrough between thetop and bottom parts, A B. The bottom part, B, contains the bellows g,which are connected by a pitman, 7i, with a crank on the shaft of theroller lo, which latter is operated byacrank-handle, l, connected to theouter end of its shaft. The air passes from the bellows g into vthewind-chest m, as shown in Figs. l and 3, and from there to the reeds a,which are thus kept continually under air-pressure, as usual ininstruments ot' this class. The air and the sounds are emitted throughopenings o at the top ot' the wind-chest lm, intermediately betweenwhich the narrow slotsp, for the noses otl the hammers or tongues D, arearranged. When the perforated actuating-sheet is placed is position onthe bottom part, B, and then the top part, A, placed thereon and securedtightly by its hooks or other fastening devices, the spring-pressed railO, as well as the hammers or tongues D, press the sheet q firmly uponthe openings o and p, while the rollers c and k take hold ot' the samefor forward motion. By turning the crank-handle l the rollers c and lt,as well as the bellows g, are set in motion, and consequently theperforated sheet moved forward, so that whenever the pert'orations ot'the sheet register with one or more of the openings o, the compressedair contained in the windchest is emitted through the opening o inproportion to the size oi' the perforations, so as to sound the reeds,while when the perforations ot' the sheet register with the slots p thehammers or tongues D sound the bells` bythe dropping ot' their nosesinto the slots p. In this manner the music played by the instrument visappropriately accompanied by the sounding ot' bells, which produces anexceedingly pleasing and striking et't'ect.

Having thus described myinvention, l claim IOO as new and desire tosecure by Letters Pat- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as entmyinvention I have signed my name iu preslo In a mechanical musicalinstrument or meloence of two Witnesses this 22d (lary of April, phone7the combination, with the wind-obesi: m, 1881.

5 having openings o and intermediate narrower OTTO SPAETHE.

slots,p, ofa supporting-rail (l, spring-actuated Vitnesses: levers D,having noses d, and bells F, subsinn- C. BRUNO, tially as and for thepurpose Set; forth; I NESTOR SCHMIDT.

